Madrid

Law Enforcement

I smoked in my hotel room, on the balcony, in clubs and bars and out in the street. Nobody bothered me. That was my experience, not the way police handled every case.

Madrid didn’t have a single liaison for foreigners who were detained or victims of crime. City police said they’d contact the embassy. The Policía Nacional often took foreigners they picked up to the station on Calle de los Madrazo.

Where to Buy Marijuana

At Retiro, near the Metro tunnel at the north end, one guy was around from one to two and would have you sit on a bench to haggle. I came in from Calle de Alcalá, caught someone’s eye within ten seconds and we walked down the path. I said twenty, he said forty. We finally landed on thirty.

It was wrapped too tightly to smell properly. I took the chance. “Damn good hash,” probably four grams.

At seven on a Wednesday, I took the Metro and saw a West African man leaning against the tunnel wall. I nodded and he nodded back. I was tingling a little. Real deal, rip-off or cops? We walked down the tunnel and started negotiating. People also warned about mounted police in the park.

Other names were Lavapiés, Calle Gravina, Malasaña around Plaza Dos de Mayo and Gran Vía near the Telefónica building. The last had the worst reputation: 500 pesetas a gram for stuff you didn’t want to ask about, versus 1,000–1,500 for good hash elsewhere. On the outskirts of Vallecas, La Rosilla and Pozo del Huevo were called “drug supermarkets” and felt risky.

Marijuana Prices

He wanted €50 for what sounded like 3.5 grams. I was only in Spain for three and a half days. After haggling he pulled a big bullet from a lining in the tunnel. It smelled legitimate. We agreed on €40 for enough hash that it would have lasted me three or four weeks back home, and I’m a wake-and-baker.

Another Retiro deal was €30 for about four grams. A quick quote put it at €10 a gram.

It was sold as Pakistani. It reminded me of Afghan, Indian or Pakistani indica hash: smooth, tasty, a hint of fresh pine, and it came on fast and strong.

More Information

A visitor improvises

I couldn’t find a pipe. I don’t smoke tobacco, so I bought papers and tried a straight hash joint. A few attempts and some experiments with the hotel bathroom glass got it into small enough bits. The joint burned slow and strong. I got four smokes out of it that day and night.

WeBeHigh's city tour

Madrid can save its best traffic jams for midnight. On the Castellana or a narrow side street, you can find yourself stuck in a crowd trying to reach the same bars.

Except on the coldest nights, there are people spilling onto the pavement, taking their drinks outside or listening to the music thump out of a café that’s too loud to talk in. After dark was when most of the soft-drug scene came out, although after five in the afternoon, when lunch finally wound down, some sellers were already around.

In Lavapiés, cannabis association AMEC ran an information center at Calle Salitre 23. Cáñamo had a national site at canamo.net. A local magazine printed 906 42 39 38 in January 2001 as a number for “tips, tricks and contacts.” That number belongs to the period.

After 1992, people talked about tenencia en lugar público, public possession in places like parks, trains and bars, as grounds for confiscation and a fine of 50,000–500,000 pesetas. They cited 80 grams for personal use, called Barcelona and Bilbao more tolerant, and expected bigger fines under conservative local governments. Police sometimes waited outside clubs playing bakalao. Period estimates for sales were four to six years, more if minors were involved, and over ten years and US$5,000 or more for large-scale trafficking. The newer Marijuana Laws section gives the legal overview. The old 80-gram estimate wasn’t a safe threshold.